Rise in tribunal claims
Union arguments that employment tribunal fees were deterring workers from pursuing cases seem to have been justified.
New figure show that the number of single claim receipts in the employment tribunal has more than doubled — up 165% — to 10,996 in the April- June quarter from 4,293 in the same quarter 2017.
Single claim receipts are, for the first time this quarter, higher than the level in July to September 2013, when fees were first introduced.
During the period of operation of ET fees (July 2013 to July 2017) receipts remained relatively stable at around 4,300 a quarter, but have been increasing consistently since the abolition of ET fees.
There were 42,700 multiple claims received in the quarter, a 344% increase on the same period last year. Multiple claim numbers tend to be more volatile and this quarter over 23,000 claims were received in relation to one large multiple case against an airline. There were 716 multiple claims received in the quarter — up from 317 cases a year ago.